Bad news for the bank of Mum and Dad - raising a child from birth to adulthood costs £186,000

By ANDREW LEVY

Last updated at 21:57 06 December 2007

Anyone who tells you their children are worth their weight in gold is probably not far off the truth.

The cost of raising a child from birth to the age of 21 is now £186,000 - or £24.30 every day, according to a survey.

The figure has shot up by a third over the past five years and is set to rise to £265,000 by 2012.

Scroll down for more...

Childcare is the biggest single cost, with parents forking out just over £50,000 on average for the first 14 years of nursery fees, after school clubs and holiday clubs.

The next biggest cost is education, which takes another £47,000 from family budgets, including £32,000 for a three-year university degree course.

Those who opt to educate their child privately face an additional bill of £72,957 for a day pupil and £130,557 if their child boards.

Parents can also expect to spend more than £16,000 on food in the first 21 years of their child's life, £13,000 on holidays and £12,650 on clothes.

Just under £10,000 will be spent funding their children's hobbies and the same amount will be paid out to baby-sitters, while more than £7,000 will be spent on leisure activities for their offspring.

The children may be the beneficiaries of all this largesse, but they are being hit in the pocket too.

The typical child received £5,518 in pocket money between the ages of five and 18 in 2006 but this year that has dropped to £5,469 - £8.09 a week.

On top of all of this, parents can expect to part with a further £10,673 to cover miscellaneous expenses such as driving lessons, Christmas and birthday presents and even a first car.

The survey, by insurance and investment group LV, formerly Liverpool Victoria, has been running since 2003.

It found that the overall cost of raising all the children in the UK was now a staggering £139 billion - more than a tenth of the wealth produced by the UK each year.

Spokesman Nigel Snell said: "As a parent of three, I know from experience that sacrifices have to be made in the early years and many parents will have had to put some plans on hold to manage the costs associated with raising a family.

"Of course, every parent will tell you that it is all worth it. But even making small provisions and doing a little extra planning now could help parents see their way more easily through the next 21 years."

The parents who paid the highest premium for their little ones were in London, where the average was just under £200,000, followed by the South East at £195,000.

The cheapest area to raise a child was Wales, at £179,000, rising to £180,000 in Outer London and £182,000 in the East of England.

Children cost their parents the most while they are at university, with those aged between 19 and 21 draining an average of £12,249 a year.

The second most expensive period is when children are between two and five, with this period costing around £12,129 per year per child due to the high cost of childcare.